A Very Pinteresting Approach To Event Planning

Event planning is at least 25% easier than it was just two years ago. I say this because two years ago, we had to spend five times the amount of time we do today thumbing through magazines and surfing the web to get an idea of what products, projects, and advice to incorporate into our events. Those days are quickly coming to an end. Thanks to Pinterest, we can do a quick search and go through hundreds of images in mere minutes. Instead of looking through dozens of magazines to find three or four useful ideas, we can find dozens of useful ideas within just a few minutes. Times have changed indeed.

A Pinteresting Warning:

If you search Pinterest aimlessly and without a plan, you will waste more time than ever. There is so much to see on Pinterest, that it can be overwhelming. If you are not careful, you will waste hours scrolling without a clue. Also, there is plenty of bad advice out there and projects that simply won’t work. Here are six simple steps to save time, get more out of Pinterest, and really enjoy the process of planning your event.

1. Use Your Boards To Create Categories

For the purpose of this example, we will use a wedding for our demonstration. What are the different aspects that we need to think about? Wedding themes, wedding dresses, bridesmaids dresses, wedding centerpieces, etc. Spend some time brainstorming and jot down all the categories that you can think of. Then, create boards based on all of those categories.

To create a board, click on the “Add +” button at the top right of your screen.

To add a category page the first thing you need to do is click “Add+”.

Then, simply click “Create A Board”.

Here are some of our category pages:

A few of the categories on the EventsWholesale.com Pinterest page.

2. Authorize The Right People to Help You Pin To Those Boards

This is a great way to include your bridesmaids, your family, and even your new in-laws in on the planning process. To do this, click on the board you want to invite people to pin to. Then, click on the button that says “Edit Board”.

Finally, add whoever you want to the “Who Can Pin?” box and click “Invite”. Don’t forget to click “Save Settings”.

Tip #1: Plan ahead and send Pinterest invitations to those who are not on Pinterest yet.

Tip #2: Copy and paste your “Who Can Pin List?” into a word document so you can paste it into all of your boards. This way you won’t have to type them in over and over again.

3. Use Pinterest’s Search Engine and Teach Your Helpers To Do So

Let’s go back to our wedding example. If you simply browse through Pinterest’s Weddings category, then you are going to waste all kinds of time. You are better off using the search box up at the top left corner.

The wrong way to search!

Let’s say that we are looking for a wedding dress for a vintage style wedding. Go and type in “wedding dresses” in the search engine. What do you see?

How many of these dresses are vintage? Not many! This search was not specific enough!

The right way to search!

This time, type in “vintage wedding dresses”.

Now, we are getting a bit closer to what we are looking for. This is where you repin everything you like into your “wedding dress” category. Now, get even more specific with your search. Type in “1950s vintage wedding dresses” and take a look.

Are you a little surprised at how many pictures came up for something this specific? You can find almost anything on Pinterest!

Tip #3 – Also Visit the Pinterest Pages of Companies With Products You Like

In this day and age, I don’t understand why anyone would use long distance telephone service. It is not longer necessary. With a free Skype account or a Google+ account, you can video chat with anyone, anywhere in the world for free!

This step is for your core group here. This is something you want to do with the pinners with the best ideas and the best grasp of what you are looking for. I really recommend Google hangouts. You can do a group video chat and share your computer screen with everyone. This gives you the opportunity to show your pinner entourage exactly what you like and don’t like.

5. Throw a Party For Your Pinners

This is the part where you get away from the computer for a while. If you are considering a lot of DIY projects for your event, assign one to each friend. Have them test the project to see if it really works and then bring it to the party to teach everyone else how to do it.

6. Don’t Forget About the Old School Methods!

Last of all, don’t forget about surfing the web and thumbing through those wedding magazines. You never know where you might find something that will inspire another Pinterest search.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 24th, 2012 at 1:15 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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